Urge China to introduce an Animal Protection Law

There is an increasing number of cases where individuals torture animals and publicise widely on the internet their abuse and the satisfaction they get from such acts. This shows yet again that the adoption of proper animal welfare legislation in China is an urgent need. In a land with no laws, anything is possible, and when anything is possible, every horror imaginable occurs.

Important information to read:

No Rodeo China campaign: September 2011- Months of intensive campaigning against the first ever Wild West event in China haven't been in vain: the rodeo planned in Beijing's National Stadium for early October 2011, has been put on hold.

From the 1st of July, 80 thousand Cape Fur seal pups will be savagely beaten to death for their fur pelts.Six thousand bulls will be shot so that their penisesmay be used to make an ineffective traditional Chinese aphrodisiac. For the next 139 days, terrified pups will be rounded up, separated from their mothers and be violently beaten to death. The colony will be rounded up at day break. Pups, bulls and cows will be surrounded and kept away from the safety of the sea. Men with clubs move in and the seals run in fear.

Fur Farming: Care for the Wild International (CWI) has been investigating the fur industry since 2004. Working with Swiss Animal Protection and EAST International, their investigations uncovered devastating evidence of brutality and suffering. Their reports expose the excruciating life and death of the fur industry’s victims, containing unforgettably haunting images and footage.

The Chinese Fur Industry: There are no penalties for abusing animals on fur farms in China, which is the world's largest fur exporter, supplying more than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States. Foxes, minks, rabbits, dogs, cats, and other animals pace and shiver in outdoor wire cages, with no shelter from driving rain, freezing nights, or the scorching sun. Mother animals, who are driven crazy from rough handling and intense confinement and have nowhere to hide while giving birth, often kill their babies after delivering litters. Disease and injuries are widespread, and animals suffering from anxiety-induced psychosis chew on their own limbs and throw themselves repeatedly against the cage bars.

Undercover Investigation: Rabbit Fur Farms in China:PETA Asia-Pacific's new video footage from an undercover investigation shows rabbits crammed into filthy cages that are encrusted with urine and feces. Workers at the farm pull rabbits from cages by their ears and shoot them in the head with handheld electrical devices – often multiple times – while the terrified animals kick and scream. Then the rabbits are hung upside-down and decapitated. The video footage was taken at a rabbit fur farm in Shandong, China, where animal protection laws are virtually non-existent. The farm has 11,000 rabbit cages and produces 600,000 rabbit pelts every year.

Bear Farming: Bears farmed for their bile, a common ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, live on factory farms in small cages they can barely move in. Farmers extract their bile through tubes surgically implanted into their gall bladders. And the result of this cruelty is that the bears, in addition to suffering infections and liver cancer, only live about 5 years. A bear in the wild lives 25.

Live Crab Vending Machines: Subway stations in Nanjing, Jiangsu, are dispensing live crabs in vending machines for consumption. The live crabs are confined in restrictive plastic boxes, in near freezing temperatures, granted in a semi-hibernate state, with no food, no water, for an indefinite period of time, only to be purchased and finally consumed. Crabs are intelligent animals who are capable of experiencing both fear and pain. They have the same capacity for suffering as any other sentient being. These vending machines are inhumane.

Live animals in key-rings: The Global Times recently reported the sale of key rings containing live animals sealed inside plastic pouches. The lack of food and diminishing oxygen concentrations within both the water and the small amount of air within the plastic pouches will cause these animals to die in a relatively short period of time after these pouches are sealed.

Live Animal Markets: Scorpions scamper in bowls, water snakes coil in tanks and cats whine in cramped cages, waiting to be slaughtered, skinned and served for dinner. Cat and dogs crammed inside cages with no room to move, many of them diseased, all destined to be sold as food. These are the shocking pictures from a live animal market in Nanhai, China

I am writing to urge you to ask the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to establish animal protection legislation in China as early as possible. Currently in China there is no legislation to protect animals against cruelty by individuals or ensure the needs of animals and acceptable welfare standards maintained in different industries.

Inhumane and cruel treatment towards these animals cannot currently be stopped by legal action.

People throughout the world, as well as Chinese citizens, are shocked by the recent online publication by individuals in China of extreme animal torture and encouragement to kill animals. There is an increasing number of cases where individuals torture animals and publicise widely on the internet their abuse and the satisfaction they get from such acts. A number of studies have drawn links between the abuse of animals and violence against people. Communities must recognize that abuse to any living being is unacceptable and endangers everyone: reporting, investigating, and prosecuting animal cruelty can help take dangerous criminals off the streets.

The victims of these horrendous acts, together with thousands of other abused animals, such as dogs and cats (many of them once somebody's pet) slaughtered for their fur; fur bearing animals such as raccoons, fox and rabbits skinned alive; bears who spend their lives confined to small cages screaming in pain as bile is extracted from their gall bladders, live crabs sold in vending machines, demonstrate the urgent need for passing animal protection laws in China.

Creating an animal protection law would be widely welcomed by the international community and help consolidate China's position among leading nations.

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